Paul Ryan's Multiple Unicorns  —  Gosh.  For a plan that supposedly sets a new standard of seriousness, Paul Ryan's vision (pdf) depends an awful lot on unicorn sightings — belief in the impossible.  Let me review the top three unicorns.  —  First, the plan assumes that tax cuts will set off a literally unprecedented boom.

Fox News and Mercury Radio Arts Announce New Agreement; Beck to ‘Transition Off’ Daily TV Program  —  Editor's note: After a great deal of speculation about Glenn Beck's future on television, here is the freshly-inked news release.  There will be a couple of key headlines out of this …

Supreme Court race too close to call; Kloppenburg has narrow lead over Prosser  —  At left, Justice David Prosser speaks to supporters in Hartland.  At right, Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg speaks to supporters in Madison.  —  By Patrick Marley, Larry Sandler and Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel

White House Says Shutdown Would Harm the Economy  —  WASHINGTON — The White House warned on Wednesday that a shutdown of the federal government would threaten the nation's fragile economic recovery.  But negotiations over the budget remained stalled amid increasingly sharp rhetoric from lawmakers in both political parties.

Bachmann: Why I'm qualified to be president  —  Michele Bachmann, after Bill O'Reilly asks her if she has the frame of reference to be the leader of the free world.

Teen Finds Campaign Worker At Back Door At 3AM  —  ANKENY, Iowa — A 15-year-old girl found a campaign worker from Alabama banging on her Ankeny family's back door early Wednesday morning.  —  Chloe Steward told KCCI she heard her dog barking around 3 a.m. and went to investigate.

Abele defeats Stone for Milwaukee County executive  —  Chris Abele makes his victory speech at the Historic Pabst Brewery after beating Jeff Stone for the Milwaukee County Executive seat.  Abele's wife, Miriam, is at right.  —  By Steve Schultze of the Journal Sentinel

Memory Hole Alert  —  Wow.  Yesterday afternoon I downloaded the tables from that Heritage report that's the basis for the Ryan plan.  The first page looked like this:  —  You can see the unemployment forecast, with the amazing 2.8 percent prediction, in the fourth set of figures.

West Wing briefing: Obama headed out of D.C. as shutdown looms  —  A fiery President Obama insisted Tuesday that if he and congressional leaders couldn't reach a deal to avert a government shutdown, “I want a meeting again tomorrow here at the White House.”  —  “I will invite the same folks that we invited today,” he added.

The Kids Are Less White  —  Conor Dougherty writes about the growing Hispanification of America's children: … I think this is a widely misreported trend.  When the New York Times recently did a piece on me, Ezra Klein, Brian Beutler, and Dave Weigel exactly zero people complained …

What If We Focused On The Long Term Climate Gap?  —  No matter how hard I try, I can't quite get my head around the combination of Washington's obsession with decades-away projected fiscal shortfalls and it's total lack of interest in decades-away projected climate disaster.

Man With Anti-Obama Sign Attacked In San Francisco  —  SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF/ BCN) — A man who set up a table with political literature and a sign opposing President Barack Obama was attacked in San Francisco's North Panhandle neighborhood, police and witnesses said Tuesday.

Is Palin the hot new baby name?  —  Met any baby Palins lately?  No, this isn't some new political joke — “Palin” gained some traction as a girl name in 2009.  But naming your child after a living politician is a tricky business these days, one naming expert explains.  —  By Sue Kidd